1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates a ball conveying gutter system, for a pachinko island composed of a plurality of pachinko machines arranged in array, including a gutter extending in and through the pachinko island for carrying pachinko balls in order to supply them to the individual pachinko machines and for storing the pachinko balls.
2. Description of the Related Art:
This type of conventional ball conveying gutter system, for a pachinko island, is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 of the accompanying drawings.
As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, a plurality of successive pairs of confronting posts 1, 1 are mounted on the floor of a pachinko island 1a, and a gutter 2 extends through the successive pairs of confronting posts 1, 1, sloping longitudinally in and along the island 1a. The gutter 2 conveys pachinko balls from a ball tank 1b to the individual pachinko machines.
Between each pair of confronting posts 1, 1, a gutter support 3 is mounted for supporting the gutter 2. The gutter support 3 is secured to the confronting posts 1, 1 by means of screws 4, 4. In the pachinko island 1a, a bottom plate 2a of the gutter 2 has a flat upper surface or an inverted V-shape cross section.
However, in this conventional gutter system, since the gutter 2 only carries pachinko balls flowing there along and has a limited capacity which is not enough to enable the storing of the pachinko balls therein, the ball tank 1b is needed at the upper portion of the island 1a, which is expensive, and has the additional problem that it is difficult to secure an adequately large space for installation of such a ball tank.
Further, if a large quantity of pachinko balls flow into the gutter 2 at once, the gutter support 3 which has to bear the total weight of the gutter 2 and the pachinko balls flowing therein is relatively unstable structurally as it is only attached to the confronting posts 1, 1 by the screws 4, 4. To adjust the height of the gutter 2, the screws 4, 4 are removed and then the gutter support 3 is moved to a desired position, whereupon the gutter support 3 is secured again to the confronting posts 1, 1 by the screws 4, 4, which is laborious and time-consuming.
Furthermore, assuming that a lot of pachinko balls flow in the gutter 2, since the bottom plate 2a of the gutter 2 has a flat upper surface, the pachinko balls are apt to gather at one side rather than across the whole width so that the pachinko balls cannot be supplied uniformly to the pachinko machines on both sides of the gutter 2 and so that the overall flow of pachinko balls will possibly be retarded, thus resulting in inefficient conveying of pachinko balls. Consequently it was difficult to convey a large quantity of pachinko balls even if the gutter has a large capacity.